Browsing Category: South Africa

Most of you know by now that when we made our move from South Africa to Arizona in 2017, we used the I-130 visa to do so. This is a special kind of green card that’s issued to family members of US citizens, such as partners and children. Harley already had her American citizenship, so it was only Dean who needed the green card, which you can read more about over here.

But I often get emails and other messages from you all. You ask about other ways to get to the US if you don’t have a partner who is a citizen. And for a long time, I honestly didn’t have any answers other than to try for the Green Card lottery, or maybe see if you can get a job that will do the work for you. But now I have a solution that will work for some of you. Granted, it’s not a fit for everyone, but there is indeed a way to buy your way in.

(Full disclosure: This post was sponsored, as becomes clear below. But since so many of you have written to me about this topic, I thought it might be helpful for some of you.)Continue Reading

Two years ago, I joined up with #CarseatFullstop. I was inspired by Mandy’s passion for the project and wanted to help save a kid’s life. I figured that parents just didn’t know better. You know, like I obviously already did.

Harley always rode in a car seat. ALWAYS. But part of being in this campaign means that I’ve learned even more. I thought that I was always doing everything needed to keep Harley safe, but I was actually wrong. I’ve done a number of things that could have been catastrophic. I’m not telling you this as some form of guilty self-flagellation, but to hopefully help you to not make the same mistakes that I have. Continue Reading

A year ago, we left South Africa. One year ago, we got on a plane with 3 suitcases while 10 boxes were making their way to us on a slow boat. We had our essentials, leaving a country that was our home for about 10 years to make a new life in the States.

I can’t decide if a year is a long time or not. I suppose I have to stop saying that we are new in the country, or recently emigrated. Continue Reading

I’ve talked before about how moving is hard and making friends takes time. Whether you’ve lived somewhere for a long time or you’re new in an area, forging new social connections can be scary, complicated and totally daunting. I know a lot of you appreciated my advice on how to grow meaningful connections, so I thought I’d share a little about how I’m using social media to build real friendships. Like, actual burgeoning connections and stuff.

To be honest, before we left for the States, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Facebook. It was just so cluttered with crap, and most of my day to day friends weren’t on there much. I preferred twitter, and I still do, for news, silly interactions and fun quips. I was trying to get into Instagram, and it’s still something I’m trying to do more of, but it just feels like a serious time sink for me. It feels like you have to be on Instagram ALL THE TIME to actually see anything worthwhile. But my social media game changed a lot by moving. Continue Reading

This was our first 4th of July since moving to the States, and my first one on US soil in about 10 years. I’ve got to say, I had some mixed emotions on the 4th of July, and I wasn’t the only one. When I was growing up, we weren’t big on 4th of July celebrations, but it did take on some significance being overseas.

In Holland and then in South Africa, I was one of only a handful of Americans in social circles. As a result, I was the one who had to mark the occasion. It also meant that I was something of the arbiter of truth for all things American – a bit odd, but still fun. Continue Reading